Open Letter to President Bush

[Good Friday]

This outcome, after all the campaign season rhetoric on my part, may surprise many of you. It certainly surprises me. I have decided to vote for President Bush, against my better judgment, as an act of complete trust in the Church and her teaching authority. It certainly does not represent any feeling of warmness toward President Bush on my part; rather, it is a proclamation that I will assent to the Church's teaching that abortion is the greatest evil of our time, even though I do not truly understand that teaching.

It is blind faith and trust. Sometimes it has to be.

Without further explanation from me, the open letter to the President:


- - -

Dear President Bush:

I'm writing to inform you that, against my better judgment, I will be casting my vote for you and for your Republican colleagues on November 2. Before I cast my vote and give my assent to your second term and the policies that will result, I want to clarify why I'm casting my vote for you. I can tell you that while this is representative only of my opinion, there are many like me who would silently agree with the sentiments in this letter.

I'm not voting for you because you're strong on national security. On the contrary, Mr. President, I think you're weak on national security. I think that the war you've decided to wage in Iraq has weakened our military and taken focus away from the real war on terrorism, which is the capture of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda militants. I believe that Osama bin Laden poses a greater threat to our national security than he did even on September 10, 2001, because he has not been aggressively pursued and because our foreign policy has only aided him in his hateful rhetoric. I believe that you and your Administration have only given those in the Arab world more reason to hate us for our interventionist policy. In addition, I believe that it's very likely that another, more serious attack will occur under your watch. So I can say with complete honesty that I'm not voting for you because you're strong on national security.

I'm not voting for you because I support the war in Iraq. If it wasn't abundantly clear in the last paragraph, I am completely opposed to the war in Iraq. I believe that the blood of every innocent life lost in Iraq is ultimately on your hands, and that you will have to account for that blood before my God and your God, my Father and your Father. I believe that the war in Iraq was a pre-emptive, thoughtless and unjust war, and that the entire world has been made less safe because of it. While I agree that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein, I believe that there were other ways to accomplish that goal, and I wish that you had attempted to pursue those other means before sending our troops needlessly to war. The world may be better off without Saddam Hussein, but will it be better off if he is replaced by a terrorist regime led by Iraqi insurgents?

I'm not voting for you because you're strong on domestic issues. On the contrary, I believe that your economic policy is crippling the working poor and the middle class, and I believe that it will only worsen over the next four years. I believe that your plan to privatize social security will ultimately make it very difficult, if not impossible, for the elderly to live in our country. I believe that your lack of a healthcare plan will cause many people, and children, to needlessly suffer because of the greed of the drug companies and hospital chains that you're friendly with. I believe that your tacit support of racist institutions like Bob Jones University represents a serious threat to African Americans and other minorities in America, and I believe that this threat will only become more serious if you're given free reign for another four years. I believe that your domestic policy has been a devastating failure, and I have every confidence that it will continue to be.

I'm not voting for you because I believe you're a person of faith, close to God and guided by His Word. I've read the news articles pointing out that you rarely attend church on Sunday, and I know that you defiantly ignored the guidance of your own United Methodist Church's leadership when they urged you not to engage in a pre-emptive war with Iraq. I believe that the lip service you pay to our God is insincere, and that it only serves as a means for you to rally your evangelical and conservative base. I don't believe you're guided by God anymore than anyone else is, and perhaps less than many, and I believe that He is deeply saddened and angered over many of your words and deeds. I believe St. Peter when he says that God is not a respecter of persons, and I think that He would be more likely to guide the humblest and poorest person in America than He would be to guide you. I believe that if you were truly guided by God, you would have a better understanding of the words: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." I pray that you will come to better understand those words.

I'm not voting for you because I believe that you're the moral candidate, or that you're strong on moral issues or life issues. I know that in 2000 you believed that same-sex marriage should be a decision reserved for the states, and I believe that you have only changed your position to rally your conservative base. I know that you are indeed the first President to grant federal funding to embryonic stem cell research, and I know that your decision was unethical and immoral by any Christian standard. I know that your only true accomplishment in opposing abortion has been the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federal funding to overseas abortion. Even this is not your original idea, but a plan that was created by President Ronald Reagan. I know that your other alleged contributions to the pro-life cause -- the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, etc. -- would not have prevented a single abortion, and I know that it was just another way to rally your conservative base. A lot of talk, no action.

I'm certainly not voting for you because I like you. If it hasn't become abundantly clear in this letter, I don't like you. I think you're one of the worst Presidents in American history, and if it were not for one single thing, I would not be voting for you.

So what is this one single issue that compels me to vote for you? It is that my Catholic faith commands my conscience to vote for the lesser of two evils, the President who may -- despite my skepticism -- appoint a justice to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe v. Wade or at least allow for the limitation of abortion, so that some of the millions of lives lost to abortion will be spared. Mind you, I don't really believe that you're going to do that. My conscience compels me, however, to vote for you because there is some chance that you will appoint a pro-life justice to the Supreme Court, while there is absolutely no chance that Sen. Kerry will do so. You see, then, that my decision is not based on any of your merits -- it's about making the best of two supremely awful choices.

I pray that both the Democratic and Republican parties will offer us candidates of substance in future elections, candidates who I can vote for based on their merits instead of on the unlikely possibility that they will save a few unborn lives. As it stands, America is faced with a decision between two great moral evils, and the reason this election is so close is because Americans can't decide which of you represents the greatest evil. I have struggled with that decision throughout this entire campaign season, and I have come to the conclusion that the evil is so great in our political system that neither of you can fully represent it, but that there is one small, fading glimmer of light in the Republican Party that obliges me to vote for you. I pray that this small spark will light a fire of goodness, but I somehow doubt that possibility.

With great reservation, I will cast my vote for you on Tuesday -- not because you're the Catholic candidate, for most of your policies are far from Catholic teaching, but because you are the lesser of two evils in a system that has become godless and totally corrupt. May God help our country to overcome the dark cloud that has overshadowed our government.

In Christ,
Nathan Nelson

[Lil Red]

nathan, i agree with you....i'm not voting for Bush because i like him or his policies (particularly environmental policies), but i think he will do more to prevent abortions than Kerry...but i don't have to particularly like the fact that i feel i have to vote for him....

[quote]May God help our country to overcome the dark cloud that has overshadowed our government.[/quote]

amen.

[franciscanheart]

a powerful letter.

[qfnol31]

Nathan that's awesome!

[Thy Geekdom Come]

Nathan, I don't agree with you on much, and I don't agree with anyone on everything, not even Jen , but I have a lot more respect for you now and believe me, I share your prayers for our government, even if what we want is different, let's pray on common ground, that God's will may be done.

God bless.

[franciscanheart]

oh yeah.... i dont agree with you on almost anything there. but its a powerful letter and will get across what we can all tell you are trying to say. what i pull from that though is that our country's government needs a lot of prayers, and i am here to offer them up!!

[Iacobus]

I am not sure we are really "forced" into voting for Bush. We have Joe and many other moral "Naders." But do as you are guided

[Lounge Daddy]

[font="Courier"]Very cool [/font]

[Theoketos]

I think that I might write you in, if I had not already voted...

[StColette]

[quote name='Raphael' date='Oct 31 2004, 08:01 PM'] I don't agree with anyone on everything, not even Jen , [/quote]
rofl very true!


Awesome Letter

[lifeteenchick527]

i would vote for Bush if i could vote....but iam still too young

like i said in one of the other threads tho


[b][color=red]r any of u gonna be 35 or older by next election and would like to run for President? we need a good catholic president!! anyone willing to try...i would but iam still a lil young...i cant even vote but anywase[/color][/b]

anyone?

God Bless
~LTC~

[crusader1234]

Great letter.

[goldenchild17]

[quote name='lifeteenchick527' date='Oct 31 2004, 11:15 PM'] [b][color=red]r any of u gonna be 35 or older by next election and would like to run for President? we need a good catholic president!! anyone willing to try...i would but iam still a lil young...i cant even vote but anywase[/color][/b] [/quote]
hmm, I wonder how the country would react to a future priest running for Pres... Maybe I should try it

[Scofizzle]

hmm while i belive just about everything you said to be false.....still apoweful letter....its a shame the president will never read it.

[SirMyztiq]

[quote name='Lil Red' date='Oct 31 2004, 07:54 PM'] nathan, i agree with you....i'm not voting for Bush because i like him or his policies (particularly environmental policies), but i think he will do more to prevent abortions than Kerry...but i don't have to particularly like the fact that i feel i have to vote for him....



amen. [/quote]
Dude that letters sounds more Pro-Kerry than Pro-Bush.

Personally I think that is a shame and I think you should go by your gut and be more broad on what you really believe and feel about this man you are voting for. There are more things at stake than women having abortions.